I have been audited, and it can be a bad experience depending on how it is handled. In our case we had to buy all out of compliance licenses and the fine was 2x the cost of those licenses. If you are knowingly non-compliant and not working to rectify the situation you can be held liable.

If I were you I would do an internal audit and let upper management know that non-compliant software must be purchased or uninstalled to be legal. Make sure you do this as written communication such as an email. If they still refuse to get compliant start looking for another job. Make sure that you do not install any unlicensed software.

This I think is a big headache for most SMB IT shops. We want to do things right (and legal), but management won't let us.

Help management to understand that the fines typically are $100K per incident. That means for every single install or cal that you are using that you do NOT have a legal license (or can prove it) you will get fined for each.

Do your own internal audit. Tell them how many violations you find and then multiply that by $100K. Then tell them that Microsoft or any other software company can legally come to their place of business at any time and demand to do their own audit.

Lastly, tell them that you refuse to install software illegally.

Theft is theft. If they don't want to pay the licensing then they should either hire a programmer and write their own programs or use free or open source software.

Yup, get some serious documentation in place with management's signatures on it saying that you had no choice and they've indemnified you and required you to work in these conditions. Talk to your own lawyer as well because you need personal protection here - now that you know a crime is in place, you are culpable. No different than if they were stealing cars and you were helping to strip those cars and resell them.

I have been audited, and it can be a bad experience depending on how it is handled. In our case we had to buy all out of compliance licenses and the fine was 2x the cost of those licenses. If you are knowingly non-compliant and not working to rectify the situation you can be held liable.

If I were you I would do an internal audit and let upper management know that non-compliant software must be purchased or uninstalled to be legal. Make sure you do this as written communication such as an email. If they still refuse to get compliant start looking for another job. Make sure that you do not install any unlicensed software.

We have direct experience with this and in a worst case scenario, you could be in a situation where in court your software vendors could argue that since you worked with stolen software (and intentionally) that everything ever produced using that software belongs to them. So as much as the entire revenue of the company. This can be unbelievably huge. Bankruptcy is quite common.

If you play nice, your vendors will almost certainly work with you. Try to get away with something and they could own your company and go after people individually too (civil court, not criminal, you'll still get to vote when it is said and done.)

I have been audited, and it can be a bad experience depending on how it is handled. In our case we had to buy all out of compliance licenses and the fine was 2x the cost of those licenses. If you are knowingly non-compliant and not working to rectify the situation you can be held liable.

If I were you I would do an internal audit and let upper management know that non-compliant software must be purchased or uninstalled to be legal. Make sure you do this as written communication such as an email. If they still refuse to get compliant start looking for another job. Make sure that you do not install any unlicensed software.

If they try to force you to install anything... go to the state attorney general to get protection since that is the process for when a company attempts to coerce you to commit a crime.

You can work with your reseller to get legit on your licensing. There are specific Windows desktop SKUs you can purchase if you happen to be not legit.

This is Microsoft being nice and giving you the opportunity to fix things before it gets bad. The fact that your company is doing this is now published and Google cached as doing so means that the likelihood of an upcoming audit is very, very high. Right now you have a small window in which to safely order these licenses (your SpiceWorks audit and your MS Volume Licensing consultant can sort this out in hours for you.) But the wheels are likely in motion now so I'd act very, very fast.

If you need assistance locally, we have both technical resources locally and our MS VL partner (Softmart) is just up the street from you too.

You can work with your reseller to get legit on your licensing. There are specific Windows desktop SKUs you can purchase if you happen to be not legit.

This is Microsoft being nice and giving you the opportunity to fix things before it gets bad. The fact that your company is doing this is now published and Google cached as doing so means that the likelihood of an upcoming audit is very, very high. Right now you have a small window in which to safely order these licenses (your SpiceWorks audit and your MS Volume Licensing consultant can sort this out in hours for you.) But the wheels are likely in motion now so I'd act very, very fast.

If you need assistance locally, we have both technical resources locally and our MS VL partner (Softmart) is just up the street from you too.

Software vendors aren't out to get you, but they do want you to be compliant and pay for their products. If you start the process of actively working to get compliant you have some room to avoid fines. If you wait for them to come after you all bets are off. Make getting an audit done and sent off to management your top priority.

1. Inform your company of the problem in writing and propose a solution.

2. Have the company's response in writing.

3. Cease and desist from installing unlicesed software from that point forward.

Just not installing new software won't help. You have to deal with the fact that you are supporting stolen goods. Once you know and keep touching them, you are part of the situation. You definitely cannot work on or support any stolen software in any fashion. Once you find out it is stolen, you are liable personally to some degree.

I have been through an audit (not much fun). We were not blatantly cheating the system, more of an error on the part of our purchaser. He was buying the wrong licenses for Office for years (what happens when non technical people purchase technical products). MS cut us a deal since we at least were trying to be legal. Still cost us a few hundred thousand, but it was what it was. Could have been worse, they could have tacked on a fine, but did not, and even cut the price of the licenses we needed to purchase. Only catch was we had to buy in 30 days...Mgmt was not happy...

As it's been said before, CYA (Cover Your Ass) and if anything, look for new employment unless they're willing to work toward getting it fixed. I'd contact MS myself and say hey, what kind of payment plan can we get on to get these licenses taken care of, because now that the internet knows your company name, expect the audit to come soon.

I remember my younger days, "Why bother paying for it when I can do it for free" always helped keep my costs down, so I could undercut anybody else offering to do the same services, made good money back then, but now I know better, having moved into the larger business sectors.

I have been audited, my biggest problem was bad organisation. It took longer to compile the list and locate the physical licenses than anything else. I'm glad the days of license certificates are over.

Ouch. Notice the partner tag on Chris' post. Ya might want to at least give him a "helpful." :)

Concur with Justin and Scott above. Can't say I have been in your exact shoes there Jeff, but I have certainly run into a minor licensing headache....call it at least a size 4 to your size 18. Also remember that CYA is more than just an acronym. Be safe brother.

Thanks guys. Once I found out I have taken measures. I’ve done network scans, cleaned up Active Directory, used Spiceworks, and beat my head against my monitor developing spreadsheets and proposals. I have seriously spent over a month and half trying to get everything done. I do have a plan and proposed it and plan on bringing it up again today. If we go with Software assurance it allows us to spread the payments out. Anyone use MS Software Assurance and is it worth it?

If you've compiled most of the data you are one step ahead of the game. One other thing to keep in mind during an audit, the auditor will want to see proof of purchase on your software. One of my big headaches was tracking down all of the PO's and paid invoices in my accounting system (I have seen every misspelling of adobe and Microsoft ever). Also, a formal audit letter often comes with a cease and desist order on uninstalling software, so if your audit found unneeded non-compliant software that can or should be uninstalled get it done sooner rather then later.

So far I have been working with Zones.com and will use them when we purchase it. Anyone else use them? They were very helpful and they have a licensing specialist, I think her name is Rebecca, she can answer any question at all.